


worth the risk

by Aegiswarrior



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: F/F, Short & Sweet, just vereesa asking her sister for advice :0, mentioned alleria/alexstrasza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22613245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aegiswarrior/pseuds/Aegiswarrior
Summary: “With you and Alexstrasza…” Vereesa starts, but Alleria cuts her off.“I swear if this is just some invasive question about my love life, I’ll-”“It’s not. I swear.”“Sorry. Keep going.”“I keep wondering… I just… How did you know she’d say yes?”
Relationships: Alleria Windrunner & Vereesa Windrunner, Jaina Proudmoore/Vereesa Windrunner
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	worth the risk

Vereesa is pacing when Alleria finds her, wearing a track into stone with just her restless endless movements. The fountain behind her bubbles quietly, peaceful and constant, utterly at ends with the anxieties that are beyond visible in her sister. The pacing stops when Alleria reaches her, but only because Alleria catches Vereesa by the arm and roots her in place.

“You said it was important, but this is a bit much.” Alleria tells her.

“I didn’t… I thought I was alone.”

“That doesn’t excuse… whatever that was.”

Vereesa flushes bright red, and while she no longer paces, her restlessness has not stopped, and she plays with the edges of her armour, her hands, with anything she can get her hands on. It’s a lot, much more than Alleria has seen in her for years, not since Vereesa was a child. A young child at that.

Alleria lets her arm go, briefly brushes the slightest amount of dust of her shoulder, and stands at arm’s length, watching her carefully.

“You wanted to talk to me about _something_ and I’m here.” She says. “Speak.”

Vereesa wrestles with her hands for a moment before she forcibly makes herself stop, and while the tension remains, she manages to control herself for several moments. “It’s not… Strictly Alliance business.” She says, not quite able to meet Alleria eyes.

“Have you murdered someone?”

“No!”

“Then I really don’t care. Go on.”

Vereesa’s hand briefly dips into her pocket, just for a second, but as soon as she sees Alleria watching she withdraws as if burned.

“With you and Alexstrasza…” Vereesa starts, but Alleria cuts her off.

“I swear if this is just some invasive question about my love life, I’ll-”

“It’s not. I swear.”

“Sorry. Keep going.”

“I keep wondering… I just… How did you know she’d say yes?”

Ah. That explains Vereesa’s nerves, the pacing, the lack of a certain mage watching over her shoulder.

“When I proposed, you mean?” Alleria says, but gently.

Vereesa nods, and she breathes in deeply, calming herself.

“I didn’t.”

“You didn’t?”

Alleria laughs, and she reaches out, guides Vereesa to sit beside her on the edge of the fountain. “I had no idea what she’d say. I didn’t plan it, not really. I didn’t even have a ring. She took me out one day, to go hiking in a remote mountain range, and by the end of it, I just knew what I wanted, so I asked her. I barely knew what I was saying until it was already done.”

She pauses, notices the once-more present tension in Vereesa, touches her shoulder gently. Then wonders if she can even feel it, beneath her armour.

“I know that’s likely not helpful for you, is it.”

Vereesa sighs out, long and drawn. “Not entirely. But I’m sure you know what this is about, by now.”

“Does it have anything to do with the ring in your pocket?”

Vereesa jumps slightly, and shoves her, almost hard enough to knock Alleria out of her seat. “How did you even know?”

“You’re terrible at keeping secrets.” Alleria says, and shoves her back, reigning herself in from shoving her sister into the fountain itself. If not for Vereesa herself, if just to stop her having to explain her sodden clothes when she returns home. “And you keep reaching for something.”

Vereesa’s hand had slipped back into her pocket, likely without her realising, and she frowns at Alleria for a moment before she pulls a small wooden box out, holding it in her lap for a moment, staring at it.

And maybe wars have torn them both to pieces, and the women they rebuilt themselves as are different to the girls they once were. But Alleria still cares. And she wasn’t there for Vereesa’s tragedies. So really, she owes it to her to be there in at least a single joy.

“Tell me about her.” She says.

“How do you even know it’s about a woman.” Vereesa grumbles.

“I could mention her name, if you’d like.” And Alleria forces herself to hold her tongue after that, and let Vereesa talk without descending into needless teasing.

“I just…” Vereesa starts, floundering already. “I never expected to find someone else. Not after… Not after I lost Rhonin. I thought that was it. That I would be alone, if not forever, at least for a few more centuries.”

“Jaina surprised you.”

Vereesa flushes harder, but she continues. “Yes. I was… So angry after what happened. And she was angry too, and at first that was what drew us together, even though we made each other’s anger worse. We… did things I’m not proud of. Hurt people. But she still understood how I felt. And things got better. Slowly. And she… I… She was worth the risk.”

Alleria stays quiet, leans back, and waits for Vereesa to realise. She could just tell her, she thinks, but it’s better if she doesn’t.

“She was worth the risk.” Vereesa repeats, and then laughs nervously.

“That’s it.” Alleria tells her. “Exactly that.”

Vereesa hands her the box, motions for her to open it. “At least… Tell me what you think.”

The ring inside is beautiful. It’s platinum, at a glance, pure shining white, inlaid with finely worked magical runes, both a decoration and an enchantment that Alleria squints at, but doesn’t recognise. In honesty, knowing her sister, she had expected something like elvish poetry, or some quiet declaration of love. But if it’s a mage she wants, something forged with magic isn’t the strangest of choices.

“What’s the enchantment do?” Alleria asks.

“It’s a small thing. A shield, if something ever goes wrong.” Vereesa pauses, fiddles with her hands again. “I know she’s an archmage. She could cast a spell ten times as powerful in her sleep. I just… I worry about her. It’s for my sake.”

“I think it’s sweet.” Alleria says, and she means it. “But really, little moon. You’re overthinking this. Take her somewhere quiet, and ask her about what she wants in the future. She’ll understand how momentous a decision it is for you to want to get married again.”

“But what if she says no? What if… There’s a hundred ways it could go wrong, and I…”

“You won’t know until you ask.” Alleria says.

Vereesa falls quiet again, but this time when Alleria glances at her, while the nerves remain, there’s steel in her eyes. She hands the box back, and Vereesa slips it into her pocket.

“I think you have a mage to find.” Alleria tells her.

“I do. And you have a wife to get back to.”

“Duty calls us both.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is very self-indulgent but i still think its fun :)


End file.
